Brooklyn, NY — Paris Baguette, a bakery and desserts establishment located at 1602 Kings Highway in Brooklyn, received a score of 38 during a New York City health inspection conducted on February 5, 2026. The score places the restaurant in Grade C territory, the lowest grade in the city's restaurant grading system, after inspectors documented a critical food safety violation involving improper food temperature control.
The inspection data was released by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) on February 27, 2026.
What Inspectors Found
During the February 5 inspection, health inspectors identified one critical violation at the Kings Highway location:
- Hot TCS food item not held at or above 140 °F (Violation Code 02B)
TCS stands for Time/Temperature Control for Safety, a designation applied to foods that require specific temperature management to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. These include items such as cooked meats, dairy-based fillings, egg products, and certain prepared foods commonly found in bakery settings.
Under NYC health inspection protocols, hot TCS foods must be maintained at an internal temperature of 140 °F or above during holding. When these items fall below that threshold, they enter the "temperature danger zone" — the range between 41 °F and 140 °F — where bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Staphylococcus aureus can multiply rapidly, potentially doubling in number every 20 minutes under certain conditions.
No non-critical violations were documented during this inspection.
Food Safety Context
The temperature control requirements enforced during NYC restaurant inspections are grounded in both local and federal food safety regulations. NYC Health Code Article 81 establishes the framework for food service establishment oversight in the city, including requirements for proper food storage, handling, and temperature maintenance.
These local standards align with the FDA Food Code, which serves as the model code for food safety regulation across the United States. The FDA Food Code specifies that hot TCS foods must be held at 140 °F or above to prevent pathogen growth, the same standard applied during NYC inspections.
Violation Code 02B is classified as a critical violation because improper temperature control represents a direct risk to public health. Critical violations are those that, according to DOHMH guidelines, are most likely to contribute to foodborne illness if left uncorrected. Each critical violation carries a minimum of 7 points toward a restaurant's inspection score, with additional points assessed based on the specific conditions observed.
For a single critical violation to result in a score of 38, the severity and conditions documented by the inspector would have contributed additional points beyond the base value, indicating that the temperature deviation may have been significant or affected multiple food items.
Inspection History
No prior inspection history is available in the DOHMH public database for this location. This may indicate that the February 5, 2026, inspection was the establishment's initial inspection, or that prior records are not yet reflected in the publicly available dataset.
Following this inspection, the action recorded by DOHMH was that violations were cited. The restaurant was not recorded as closed at the time of this inspection.
Understanding NYC Restaurant Grades
New York City's restaurant grading system, administered by DOHMH, assigns letter grades based on the total points accumulated during an inspection. Points are assessed for each violation found, with critical violations carrying higher point values:
- Grade A: 0–13 points
- Grade B: 14–27 points
- Grade C: 28 or more points
A score of 38 falls within the Grade C range. Restaurants that receive a Grade B or C on an initial inspection are offered a re-inspection, typically within 30 days, at which point the establishment has the opportunity to correct the cited violations and achieve a lower score.
Restaurants also have the right to contest their grades through the city's administrative tribunal process. Grade cards must be posted at the entrance of the establishment where they are visible to the public.
Consumers can verify any restaurant's current inspection results, grade, and violation history through the DOHMH restaurant inspection database, available online at the NYC Open Data portal. The inspection data referenced in this article reflects public records as released by DOHMH on February 27, 2026, covering the inspection conducted on February 5, 2026.
More About This Restaurant
View the full inspection history for Paris Baguette including all past inspections, violations, and grade changes.